More particularly the present invention relates to the process and to the apparatus for the production of the information leaflets or slips typically enclosed in the packagings of medicines, cosmetics and/or used in the pharmaceutical sector and, in general, in the area of manuals.
As is known, in particular in the medical and pharmaceutical area, the information leaflet or slip has to be, as a function of the specific laws of the various countries, obligatorily enclosed with the drug whereto it refers and has to contain all the information necessary and useful for the correct use and storage of the same.
More particularly this information leaflet has to contain the description of the product (for example the name of the product, the active ingredient, the excipients, etc.), the intended use, the manner of use, the dosage, counter-indications, the interactions with other products and the unwanted side effects caused, for example, by the interaction with other products/drugs or by an overdose of the drug.
All this and other possible information is, typically, given on a single paper leaflet, printed on one or both sides and folded several times in order to be able to be inserted in the packaging of the product whereto it refers.
However, taking into account the considerable quantity of information present therein and the statutory provisions which impose the use of print characters with dimensions suitable for encouraging greater legibility, pharmaceutical companies tend to produce information leaflets made up of a single sheet of increasingly large dimensions, folded several times over on itself in order to be able to be inserted in the packaging of the reference drug.
These traditional information leaflets or slips, however, have some major disadvantages linked to their dimensions once opened for consultation. In fact, bearing in mind the considerable dimensions of the sheet, they can make reading of all the information difficult and, moreover, are difficult to fold correctly and return into the packaging of the product after consultation.